Achari Baingan (Slow Cooked)

Here is a tangy dish that gets its flavor as well as name from traditional Indian pickle spices. There are several variations to make it, some are more laborious than other and some are more richer than needed. I went with a very simple recipe and slow cooked them to perfection. The slow cooking intensify the flavors and simple ingredients keep it light and low calorie. I tried this recipe with small eggplants and it came out very well. Next time I think I will add some potatoes also.

1. Wash and cut eggplants in wedges. Put them in a colander and sprinkle some salt and let it stand for few minutes.
2. Put all ingredients (except for tempering and coriander leaves) in a slow cooker (I used 6 qt).
2. Heat oil, add Asafoetida powder and all types of seeds mentioned in the tempering ingredients and let them splutter (a minute or so)
3. Add tempering to the eggplant mixture in the slow cooker
4. Cook on low for 5 hours.
5. Garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves. Serve hot with Roti or rice.

You can easily double the recipe. You may need to adjust cooking time according to your slow cooker or crockpot as well as recipe size.